A family friend found a 3-year-old boy with his throat slit in a bathtub in his Lancaster home Tuesday night, according to sources and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
The family friend went to the house on the 43400 block of 57th Street W at the behest of one of the boy’s relatives, said a source with knowledge of the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly about it. The friend found the toddler in the bathtub with his throat cut and called 911, the source said.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to the house around 10:55 p.m., they said. The department only said the boy had a “laceration to the upper torso,” according to a release.
The boy was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Deputies also found a man at the location suffering from what the sheriff’s department described only as a medical emergency. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
No arrests were immediately made, although the incident is being investigated as a homicide. The sheriff’s department did not release the names of either the man or the toddler.
The boy had three older siblings, who are 9, 11 and 14, and were all taken into custody Tuesday night, the source said. They were still at the station as of noon Wednesday, though it was not clear if any were being investigated as possible suspects, according to the source.
The family had no prior contacts with the Department of Children and Family Services.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
